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Watch More Compelling Scenes from The Brain with David Eagleman

Our calendars are marked: the new six-part series The Brain with David Eagleman debuts on PBS on Wednesday, October 14th (just 20 days away). But while you wait, you can check out seven exclusive clips on the PBS website, each revealing another fascinating aspect of the series (the video below shows David Eagleman working through a mind-bending shadow illusion). And if October 14th still seems too far away, Eagleman’s 224-page companion book to the series, The Brain: The Story of You, will be released on October 6th. Called “an astonishing read” by Stephen Fry, it’s already the #1 New Release in Neuroscience on Amazon.

There’s also a wealth of intriguing information at The Brain’s online home—follow the link for compelling video clips, episode guides and synopses, a Q&A with Eagleman, and behind-the-scenes looks at graphics, filming, and more. “I want people to understand themselves at a deeper level,” Eagleman says in the Q&A. “I don't know why self-knowledge is something so difficult to unmask, but the fact is that most of us move through the world as though we understand ourselves until it’s lain bare that we don’t … I hope this series sprouts a dozen new question marks over a viewer’s head with each episode. I also hope the series gives a sense of the broad scope of modern brain science—including the things we know from decades or centuries of scientific rigor (and which therefore don’t invite cocktail-party speculations) and those things we don’t know (which I hope will inspire the next generation to pursue)” (PBS).

Finally, here’s Pantheon’s description for the companion book, which also serves as a great survey of what this landmark television series has to offer.

Locked in the silence and darkness of your skull, your brain fashions the rich narratives of your reality and your identity. Join renowned neuroscientist David Eagleman for a journey into the questions at the mysterious heart of our existence.

What is reality? Who are “you”? How do you make decisions? Why does your brain need other people? How is technology poised to change what it means to be human? In the course of his investigations, Eagleman guides us through the world of extreme sports, criminal justice, facial expressions, genocide, brain surgery, gut feelings, robotics, and the search for immortality. Strap in for a whistle-stop tour into the inner cosmos. In the infinitely dense tangle of billions of brain cells and their trillions of connections, something emerges that you might not have expected to see in there: you.

This is the story of how your life shapes your brain, and how your brain shapes your life.

Once again, this ambitious project airs on Wednesdays at 10 p.m. EST on PBS, October 14th to November 18th. Mark those calendars!